We were excited to read about Chubby's in the latest Toronto Life issue and since my wife is Jamaican, we are always looking for that high end Jamaican restaurant. The ambience and wait staff were very good so our expectations were high. The turkey curry patties were ok but the pastry was wrong, too crisp and baked a little too long instead of being flaky, the filling a little dry.
My curry chicken was over seasoned so I was not able to enjoy the curry flavours. My wife's curry goat was ... oxtail. The chef insisted that it was curry goat that had simply been reduced resulting in a very dark color .... but you cannot mistake large chunks of oxtail vertebrae as any part of a goat. The chef was right though, it had been reduced so much that there was a bitter and burnt aftertaste to the gravy. Which made dunking the festival in them not as enjoyable as it should've been, the festival themselves were very dense (not airy) and hence hard to chew. The Chubby Slaw was lacking in acidity and while looking great just didn't have that refreshing taste.
We tried to redeem the lunch with desert ... and it was the best part. My sundae was intricate and tasty but not sure if the flavours work together. My wife had the carrot sponge cake but she said it didn't taste like a carrot cake. I don't want to trash the place because it could have simply been an off day. But I see all these 4-5 star reviews and I wonder how could my perception be so different.